


all roads lead to king's landing

by nymja



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, House Baratheon Gets Its Ladies Back, Tumblr fill, spoilers for 8x4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-27 14:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18740698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nymja/pseuds/nymja
Summary: “Where you heading?”She doesn’t know until she says it: “King’s Landing.”Gendry goes very still. “You going after the Lannisters, then?”Brienne swallows. “One of them, my lord.”





	all roads lead to king's landing

She doesn’t turn from her task when she hears footsteps and senses another presence in the stable. Her fingers work diligently at pulling down the straps of the saddlebag, preparing her horse for a long journey. The person in the stall beside her doesn’t say anything either, and they work in the same, heavy silence until she looks up to start packing horse feed.

“Lord Baratheon,” she greets, awkwardly.

The young man doesn’t even look up.

“My Lord?” Brienne asks again, not necessarily wanting to talk to anyone but also wanting to attribute the appropriate respect to the man her family was now pledged to.

He stalls this time, then turns to her. His face shows his confusion--as well as bloodshot eyes--and Brienne realizes then that he didn’t know she was addressing him.

“...Ser Brienne,” he finally puts together, dipping his chin. He doesn’t look much like a lord. He looks tired. Impossibly so.

Her entire self is also exhausted, nearly defeated. But it increasingly seems like her oaths are all she has, and so she starts to kneel-

“Don’t!” He says abruptly, then clears his throat. “Please, don’t.”

Brienne finds she doesn’t have the will to insist. Looking at him, she doesn’t believe his will is strong this morning, either.

“...I hope you are in good spirits,” she offers, awkwardly.

“I’m not,” he says with such simple honesty it makes Brienne worry. Straightforward, honest people like him (like her) do not prosper in this country. He seems to catch himself, because he sends her an apologetic look. “What about you?”

Brienne looks at her packed horse. Her hand goes to the hilt of her sword as she attempts to straighten herself. “About to travel, my lord.”

The word seems to make him flinch, something impossibly sad in his eyes. “Just Gendry.”

He clears his throat. And Brienne can tell it doesn’t occur to him to give her an order, to insist on her upholding her family’s faith with the Baratheons. “Where you heading?”

She doesn’t know until she says it: “King’s Landing.”

Gendry goes very still. “You going after the Lannisters, then?”

Brienne swallows. “One of them, my lord.”

“Good. Fuck ‘em.”

She winces, but hides it quickly under the disguise of placing a horse blanket. It’s early. Podrick hasn’t even woken--for the best, she knows.

“And you, my lord?

“Don’t call me that,” he says with a bitterness she doesn’t expect. Then he sighs. “I don’t know, really. Just not here.”

Gendry’s eyes land on one of the stables’ banners, a silver direwolf on a white field. There is something that speaks to grief on his face.

“My-” Brienne stops herself. “Gendry, are you well?”

His attention moves back to her. “Funny, was about to ask you that.”

Brienne grabs a fistful of the horse blanket. “No, not well,” she admits.

“Me either.” Gendry looks at her again then, although there’s something in his expression that makes her think he’s solved some kind of puzzle.

“King’s Landing,” he repeats slowly. “That’s where you’re headed?”

Brienne closes her eyes for a moment. “Yes.”

“She’s probably there,” he says--voice distant in a way that lets her know he’s talking to himself, rather than addressing her.

“Who?”

Gendry swallows tightly. Then he watches her, assessing in a way he wasn’t before. “You fought for my uncle?”

“Renly Baratheon. Yes.”

“Then you know about the soldiers at Storm’s End?”

“I do.”

He nods. Then his hand grips the reins of his own horse, as he seems to decide something. “You going to King’s Landing...that for Cersei?”

She thinks of brown eyes, blond hair. The feeling of lips on her neck. “In a manner.”

“Can I ask you a favor, then?”

She gives a strained nod.

Gendry’s eyes are bright, and for a moment she is painfully reminded of Renly. “Ride with me to Storm’s End?”

Her lips part. “My lord-”

“Gendry.”

“I...I cannot.”

“Why?”

She can’t admit why not. Can think it, but can not say it. “I am sworn to the service of Lady Sansa and Lady Arya.”

His lips press into a thin line. Then he says: “Alright. Show me Storm’s End.”

“I-”

His eyes meet hers. “Then we get the men, and ride”

Brienne stares. “ I don’t understand-”

For a moment, she thinks he sees right through her. Because his next words are serious, clear in their meaning.

“There’s more than one way to go to King’s Landing.”


End file.
